Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated is a subsidiary of the Sony Corporation responsible for Research & Development, production, and sales of hardware and software for the PlayStation line of handheld and video game consoles.

Xperia Play Launches May 26, Comes Packed With Free Games

We've been hearing whispers about a PlayStation-branded phone forever, but on May 26, Sony Ericsson will finally launch the Xperia Play. And no, I'm not really sure why it's called that, either.

Pre-orders for the Xperia Play start Thursday, priced at $199.99 with the obligatory two-year contract.

There are a number of games pre-loaded onto the hardware, too: Madden NFL 11, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, The Sims 3, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, Tetris. Sony's promised at least 50 games will be available at launch, likely a mixture of PlayStation classics and newer titles.

There are other phones that will support PlayStation games; Sony's calling those "PlayStation Certified" machines. The central difference between Xperia Play and anything that's been certified, however, is touch controls vs. buttons. Xperia Play isn't unlike a PSP, whereas the controls for many certified devices are completely touch-based, intangible buttons. It's not the most appealing concept.

Sony's upcoming successor to PSP, tentatively titled NGP (next-generation portable), will not include native cellular support, but PSP featured a Skype application and some NGP models will sport 3G.

We've been hearing whispers about a PlayStation-branded phone forever, but on May 26, Sony Ericsson will finally launch the Xperia Play. And no, I'm not really sure why it's called that, either.

Pre-orders for the Xperia Play start Thursday, priced at $199.99 with the obligatory two-year contract.

There are a number of games pre-loaded onto the hardware, too: Madden NFL 11, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, The Sims 3, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, Tetris. Sony's promised at least 50 games will be available at launch, likely a mixture of PlayStation classics and newer titles.

There are other phones that will support PlayStation games; Sony's calling those "PlayStation Certified" machines. The central difference between Xperia Play and anything that's been certified, however, is touch controls vs. buttons. Xperia Play isn't unlike a PSP, whereas the controls for many certified devices are completely touch-based, intangible buttons. It's not the most appealing concept.

Sony's upcoming successor to PSP, tentatively titled NGP (next-generation portable), will not include native cellular support, but PSP featured a Skype application and some NGP models will sport 3G.

Well I'm mostly curious about it as a multimedia phone rather than a portable gaming device. I am certainly interested in replacing my damn iphone with something else and a phone/psp hybrid could be the thing.

I'll be buying one. I'll be spending a lot of time at my college between classes this semester, and the emulation possibilities of this phone are awesome. There are a lot of historic NES, GB, GBA, SNES, Genesis, PS1 etc. games that I've never played- but want to.

@onimonkii: Get an Atrix, or something of equivalent power. There are plenty of PSX emulators for Android that work fine. The only benefit of the Xperia Play are the controls, but you'll suffer every time you use the actual smartphone part.

Who'd of guessed, right? Seems unlikely that a Sony Ericsson phone would be trash. Especially an Xperia phone.

Just out of curiosity before I buy one, what makes this phone 'garbage' compared to other Android phones? I ask because I've been messing around with my buddies old original Droid, and even though it's old and slow, it still seems totally rad.

Who'd of guessed, right? Seems unlikely that a Sony Ericsson phone would be trash. Especially an Xperia phone.

Just out of curiosity before I buy one, what makes this phone 'garbage' compared to other Android phones? I ask because I've been messing around with my buddies old original Droid, and even though it's old and slow, it still seems totally rad.

If you really want a good Xperia phone... get the ARC. Its an upgraded version of there X10 (which i have and love!) I toyed around with the idea of getting the Xperia Play, but i have so many portable gaming platforms already that I barely use...why get this? The added controller is an awesome functionality but also adds a lot of thickness to the phone when its in your pocket!just my thoughts...

@onimonkii: Get an Atrix, or something of equivalent power. There are plenty of PSX emulators for Android that work fine. The only benefit of the Xperia Play are the controls, but you'll suffer every time you use the actual smartphone part.

yeah, i'm on verizon. i'd have to look up what they've got that's as good. i really like the way htc's ui looks but i've heard they're behind on firmware or something. guess i should head over to tested.

Who'd of guessed, right? Seems unlikely that a Sony Ericsson phone would be trash. Especially an Xperia phone.

Just out of curiosity before I buy one, what makes this phone 'garbage' compared to other Android phones? I ask because I've been messing around with my buddies old original Droid, and even though it's old and slow, it still seems totally rad.

If you really want a good Xperia phone... get the ARC. Its an upgraded version of there X10 (which i have and love!) I toyed around with the idea of getting the Xperia Play, but i have so many portable gaming platforms already that I barely use...why get this? The added controller is an awesome functionality but also adds a lot of thickness to the phone when its in your pocket!just my thoughts...

I didn't really want to know what phones were better, I'm really more interested in the why other phones are better. Besides the extra thickness (which doesn't really bother me), what makes the ARC so much better? I just want to know why this other dude called it garbage before I buy one.

@TooWalrus: The Xperia phones are "garbage" because Sony has a seriously hard time getting their tech to function right with Android. They're super-slow and their default UI is poorly designed. Fortunately, Android lets you download new launchers and keyboards but for them to run smoothly would require good specs, which most Xperia phones don't have.

The ARC improves on this but save yourself the trouble-- just get an HTC phone or the Atrix. Or even better, save up for the Galaxy S II. They're well designed and have the tech to balance out the open-source, unoptimized-ness of most applications available on Android.

I don't know why you'd bother mentioning Skype.It was removed from the PSP's functions a while ago, and Microsoft now owns Skype, part and parcel.The Xperia Play is just not compelling at all. At what market is it being pitched?